Welcome to Part Three of our Website Traffic Blueprint article series, where we show you how to create an automated web traffic machine using the WordPress CMS platform.
In Part One of this series, we described the process, and explained why using an expertly configured WordPress website is the key to generating automated traffic …
(With an expertly configured WordPress blog, all you have to do is add great content regularly to automatically generate traffic!)
In Part Two, we looked at critical setup decisions. We helped you understand the best way to get started if you don’t have a web presence yet, how to set things up if you already have a website, and what to do if your website was built with WordPress.
(In Part 2 we show you how to set up WordPress on your domain)
In this section of the series, we will discuss the configuration stage of the WordPress traffic automation system. You will learn how a WordPress site should be configured to ensure that web traffic will automatically start flowing simply by posting fresh content regularly to your WordPress site.
WordPress Traffic Automation System – Configuration Phase
The ability to attract more visitors to one’s website is often cited by many website owners as the greatest challenge they face online. Also, the business landscape is becoming so much more competitive and businesses are looking for any and every opportunity they can to improve their results online.
The ability to generate traffic on demand can provide you with a huge advantage over the competition. With an expertly configured WordPress site, your business has an immediate competitive advantage from the very beginning.
The Configuration Stage Is What Makes All The Difference
There is a significant difference between an expertly configured WordPress site and a site that has been professionally set up by an expert website builder but not necessarily configured to take advantage of everything WordPress can offer you.
Here is a simple way to describe the main difference:
With a WordPress website that has been expertly configured you get a web presence and an automated online business marketing tool!
(An expertly configured site gives you a web presence with a built-in automated online business marketing tool!)
Not only does a whole lot more labor go into building and integrating an automated online business marketing process into your website, it also takes a special kind of expertise.
Let’s illustrate this with a joke.
Are Experts Worth The Money They Charge?
Everything is going fine in the gizmo-making assembly line when things suddenly cease working.
No one can figure out what’s happened and so the manager decides to call in an expert.
Shortly after arriving, the expert immediately heads to the control box. After staring at the wiring diagrams for what seems like 5 minutes or so, the expert then takes out a tiny little hammer from his pocket and makes a very gentle tap about 1 cm from the right corner of the box.
Immediately, everything springs back to life.
The plant manager is filled with joy as he thanks the expert, who leaves as quickly as he had arrived.
A couple of days after resolving the incident, the factory manager receives an invoice for the sum of $5,000.
With great anger, the factory manager calls the expert. Demanding to know why they were expected to pay so much for so little time spent delivering a minimal amount of work, he promptly requests an itemized invoice to be sent and hangs up.
The next day, an invoice notice arrives on the manager’s desk. Upon opening it, this is what he sees:
The #1 challenge most businesses face online is being able to drive new traffic to their sites.
In the above story, how much money did the gizmo factory stand to lose when the machines stopped working and no one on the factory floor had the expertise to get things up and running again? Did the expert not have every right to demand fair compensation for having spent years developing the knowledge and expertise that allowed him to quickly assess and fix a very costly problem?
Similarly, if you could have your website configured so all you had to do is publish new content and search engines, social sites like Facebook and Twitter and dozens of other traffic-generating online properties would be instantly notified, how much time and money would you save?
(How much better would your business be if you could automate the process of attracting new visitors to your website?)
While the solution to many challenges is often ridiculously simple once implemented, it rarely is that simple or easy when you are trying to figure things out.
Knowing how to expertly configure a WordPress site involves more than just installing a website and configuring site settings for a client. It involves knowing where to tap! In other words, knowing things like:
- Which programs need to be installed to get specific functionalities on your site.
- Which 3rd-party accounts you need to set up to achieve specific results
- Which settings you need to configure in order to ensure that everything will work as envisioned, etc.
(Generating new traffic automatically with WordPress is a process that requires expertise)
This part of the WordPress traffic automation system is not so technically challenging, but it’s quite involved. The reason why is because it’s not as easy as installing a solution, clicking on a button or two, or tweaking some settings in your dashboard area … it’s all this and so much more.
The configuration phase involves the integration of many parts including your web hosting server, your web site, and various external sites and services …
(The configuration phase involves more than just configuring a few WordPress settings)
If we create a simplified diagram of all the steps involved in the configuration process, it would look something like this …
(A simplified flowchart of the steps involved in the configuration phase)
Let’s take a look at these steps in more detail.
Web Server Configuration
We’re not talking about the process of configuring your hosting account for installation purposes. We’re talking about configuring settings in your web server specifically for handling web traffic …
(In the configuration stage, your web server settings need to be fine-tuned for handling both good and bad traffic)
Not all traffic is beneficial traffic. Some of the traffic you will attract will be unwanted traffic like spam, malicious threats, brute-force bot attacks, etc.
This aspect of the configuration process, therefore, requires evaluating your needs, planning for both good and unwelcome traffic and adjusting settings in your server accordingly. This can include looking at things like integrating server-level spam protection and securing server files, to configuring domain and email redirections, setting up error page redirections, etc …
(Have you configured your control panel settings for handling things like emails, page errors, etc?)
After checking your web server settings and configuring these, the next step is to set up and configure various external sites and online services.
External Services
The basic idea of adding external sites is that all content will be posted to a central location (your site) and from there, it will get syndicated automatically to other components of your traffic system, or notify traffic-related web properties and applications.
After incorporating these external sites into your traffic network, content with links pointing back to your website will get automatically fed to these platforms. Your business will then be exposed to a new audience and new sources of traffic.
Some of these sites will need to be set up before configuring your WordPress site’s settings to speed up the configuration process and some will need to be done later, during the automation phase.
For example, here are just some of the accounts you will need to have set up:
Google Search Console
(Google Webmasters)
Google Webmaster Tools lets you tell Google about your site’s pages, submit XML sitemaps for faster page indexing, and provides you with a range of essential data, SEO tools and reports about your website.
Once your account and site data have been set up, use this information with web traffic-related settings in WordPress (e.g. using plugins like Yoast SEO – see further below) and other applications.
Google Analytics
(Google Analytics)
Google Analytics lets you improve your site’s performance, SEO, user engagement, marketing activities, and more, by tracking all user behaviour, pages visited, keywords searched for, search engine and organic referrals, etc.
Once your Google Analytics account and site data have been set up, visitor tracking information can be added to WordPress using a Google Analytics plugin used with other applications.
Bing Data And Tools
(Drive more traffic with Bing Webmaster Tools)
Bing Webmaster Tools is similar to Google Search Console. After setting up your Bing Webmaster Tools account and entering site details, you can use this information with web traffic settings and notifications in WordPress (e.g. using plugins like Yoast SEO – see further below) and other applications.
WordPress.com
(WordPress.com)
As discussed in Part Two, WordPress offers both a self-hosted (WordPress.org) and a hosted (WordPress.com) option. We recommended choosing the self-hosted WordPress option if you are planning to grow a professional online presence.
WordPress.com (the hosted option), however, provides some great features, which various WordPress plugins can access. We recommend setting up an account with WordPress.com, therefore, and we’ll explain how to integrate these features into your web traffic system in the next installment of this article series.
Social Media And Social Bookmarking
(Syndicate your content automatically to your social media sites and social bookmarking accounts and bring new traffic to your site)
You will need your social accounts set up in order to integrate these with your traffic generation system.
After setting up and configuring everything, you will be able to syndicate your content automatically to your social media accounts and get new traffic to your site.
You should have profiles set up with all the big social networks – Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, YouTube, etc.
There are lots of social bookmarking sites you can You can post your content to many social bookmarking sites. You don’t need to go crazy, just choose the ones that will work well with your system and/or content sharing tools (we discuss some of these tools in greater detail during the Automation phase).
(There are loads of social bookmarking sites you can syndicate your content to. Image: ShareThis.com)
Additional Services, Aggregators, Etc.
There are a number of emerging platforms and RSS aggregators that can serve as second-tier sources of traffic. Some are free or provide free plans, and some offer a range of pricing plans to suit different users.
For example, here is a content aggregator that lets you add an RSS feed from your website …
RebelMouse
(RebelMouse)
RebelMouse is a news aggregator for your RSS feeds and social profiles. Your content is displayed in a Pinterest-like format and users can follow your RebelMouse page.
There are various technologies and third-party applications you can add to your web traffic blueprint. Please feel free to contact us if you would like to explore your options and discuss a strategy to suit your needs.
Once you have configured your web server and set up third-party site accounts, it’s time to configure your WordPress settings.
WordPress – Configuring Your Website
The first step in configuring your WordPress site for traffic is to ensure that its global settings have been set up correctly.
Let’s go over some of the important points.
Configuring WordPress Settings
By default, all WordPress installations include a Settings section that allows you to modify your site’s main settings …
(WordPress settings menu)
General Settings
Sections like Site Title and Tagline can affect your site’s SEO, search results, etc …
(Global Settings – General Settings)
Writing Settings
The Writing Settings area contains one of the most important and frequently overlooked built-in traffic notification systems available to WordPress users …
(WordPress Settings – Writing Settings Area)
As stated in this section,
When you publish a new post, WordPress automatically notifies the following site update services …
Unless you or your webmaster have specifically chosen to discourage search engines from indexing your site – see next section, then your site will automatically notify the update services entered into the Update Services text box
By default, this section displays only one entry …
(Update Services – A Powerful Traffic Feature)
You can notify dozens of update services automatically with WordPress …
(You can notify dozens of update services automatically!)
Download A Comprehensive List Of Ping Services For Your WordPress Site!
Click the link below to download a comprehensive list of reliable and authoritative ping services for your WordPress site or blog:
Download A List Of Ping Services For Your WordPress Site
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Note: If you need help setting up the list of ping services on your site, we recommend using a professional web services provider. You can find professional WordPress service providers in our WordPress Services Directory.
Reading
This section affects how visitors will see your content when they visit your home page and blog pages.
The syndication settings in this section can have an influence web traffic. For example, your choice to display the full text vs summaries of your post, affects how your content appears in RSS feeds and blog post digests, and could play a part in someone’s decision to explore your site further, and whether or not they will visit your website to get the rest of the content from a partial feed, or read the content in full without the need to click through to your site.
As far as traffic is concerned, however, the most important setting here is whether the Search Engine Visibility checkbox is enabled or not.
Normally, you would want search engines to visit your site. Leaving the box unchecked enables WordPress to ping all the update services you have listed whenever a new post is published (see Writing Settings above). Unless there is a specific reason why search engines should not visit your site, do not check this box …
(Settings Menu – Reading Settings)
Discussion
Although the settings in this section are mostly concerned with how users engage with content on your site, you have the option to allow notifications to sites linked to from your content, and to allow link notifications from other blogs (pingbacks and trackbacks). This can work for you, but it can also drive bad traffic in the form of SPAM comments …
(WordPress Settings – Discussion Settings Section)
Permalinks
Permalinks allow you to create SEO-friendly URLs …
(WordPress Settings – Permalinks)
Here are some of the options for configuring your site’s SEO-friendly URLs …
(Configuring search-friendly URLS)
We have created a detailed tutorial on using permalinks here: Improve Your WordPress SEO Using SEO-Friendly URLs
Configuring WordPress Plugin Settings For Traffic Generation
WordPress provides users with thousands of plugins that can add just about every type of functionality imaginable to your website, including plugins with features that help to improve traffic generation.
Let’s take a brief look at examples of plugin categories and plugins that can help drive more traffic to your site
Security Plugins – Blog Defender
Once again, it’s important to configure your website for dealing with both good traffic and bad traffic. No site is immune from cyber attacks.
(WordPress Security Plugins stop bad traffic from causing your website harm)
Security plugins like Blog Defender help to make your website invisible to bot and hacker attacks.
More information:
SEO Plugins – Yoast SEO
WordPress SEO plugins help drive traffic by improving your site’s SEO …
(SEO plugins like Yoast SEO help drive more traffic by improving the search engine friendliness of your website)
A plugin like Yoast SEO (formerly known as WordPress SEO by Yoast) can significantly improve your SEO. When properly configured, the Yoast SEO plugin not only makes your site easier for search engines to index, it allows you to specify how your content will show up in Google’s search results and social media pages, e.g. Facebook, Twitter, and GooglePlus.
Social Sharing Plugins
Allowing visitors to easily share your content online can help drive more traffic to your site, especially if you provide content that adds real value to readers.
(You can add social sharing buttons to your website easily using free or inexpensive WordPress plugins)
You can easily add social sharing to your site with free or inexpensive WordPress plugins.
Most social sharing plugins allow you to choose which sites your content can be shared to, embed social buttons into your content, set up custom update notifications, display/hide share counters (e.g. number of followers), etc. Some plugins even allow you to ‘lock’ content which visitors can unlock by liking your page.
Configuring WordPress Theme Settings For Traffic Generation
As well as configuring various plugins, many WordPress themes also include features that help grow your traffic.
For example, in addition to options and settings for configuring the layout and design of your site, many themes also include built-in options for improving SEO and site linking structure for better indexing, easily add tracking, social sharing buttons, etc …
(Many themes like Graphene (a free theme) have built-in traffic optimization features)
With many WordPress themes, adding social sharing buttons and features to your content is as easy as selecting the option to enable this functions …
(Many WordPress themes come with built-in social sharing features)
Other Areas To Configure For Improved Traffic Flow
Last (but by no means least) in the WordPress traffic system configuration process, are the areas that need to be configured outside of the global settings.
This includes:
Website Compliance Pages
Once again, when preparing your website for a growth in traffic numbers, it’s important to plan not only for both good and unwanted traffic but also for all the situations that can seriously affect your business as more and more people find and begin to visit your website.
If you do any kind of business online (or plan to), it’s important that your site is found to comply with regulatory agencies.
(Does Your Website Comply With All Legal Requirements?)
We have created a detailed article on how to quickly and easily add legal pages to your website here:
Post Tags And Categories
WordPress post tags & categories help improve traffic by allowing search engines to better index your pages.
(Post categories help improve traffic by allowing search engines to better classify and index your web pages.)
As we recommend in this article, your site’s post tags and categories should be set up during the Website Planning Phase.
When configuring your web site to automate and improve traffic, you will want to review and make sure that your site’s tags and categories have been correctly set up to deliver optimal benefits and results.
Add A WordPress Site Map
A site map that displays all of your site’s pages and posts to visitors is not only a useful navigation tool for users, it can also help external applications discover more of your site’s content …
(Site Map – great for site visitors and beneficial for traffic too!)
Note: An HTML site map and an XML sitemap are two different things. Although search engines like Google will index your pages just using an XML sitemap (which a plugin like Yoast SEO will create for you – see earlier section), making it easier for visitors to find more pages on your site can result in increased traffic.
404 Error Page – A Source Of Lost Traffic Opportunities!
When online visitors type in the wrong web address into their browser or click on links pointing to destinations on your website that no longer exist, they are greeted with a 404 error page …
(Default WordPress 404 Not Found error page)
Configuring your 404 Not Found page allows you to recover web traffic that may otherwise be lost. …
(Configuring your 404 page allows you to recover traffic that may otherwise be lost.)
Although a 404 Not Found page can be set up on your web server, there are plugins for WordPress that allow you to easily configure your 404 page from your WordPress dashboard.
WordPress Traffic Automation Blueprint: Configuration Phase – Summary
Once your WordPress site has been fully set up and expertly configured, all you need to do then is publish web content on a consistent basis to automatically begin bringing more traffic.
The process of expertly configuring a WordPress site, however, is quite involved , requiring the configuration and integration of various elements and web properties …
(WordPress Traffic System – Configuration Phase Checklist)
The kind of expertise required to perform this process can take some website professionals months to learn.
Once you have configured your WordPress site, the next step is to automate the aspects of the process that can be automated. This step is covered in the next section of our series.
This is the end of Part Three
To continue reading this article, click here:
This tutorial is part of a comprehensive series of articles aimed at helping website owners learn how to grow their business online cost-effectively with a WordPress website or blog and proven online marketing strategies.
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